The public library catalogue as a social space: Transaction log analysis of user interaction with social discovery systems

The public library catalogue has long acted as an important and fundamental medium between users and their information needs. The traditional goals and objectives of the library catalogue are to enable users to search a library's collection to find items pertaining to specific titles, authors, or subjects. Today's library catalogues are competing against powerful alternatives for information discovery. If the public library catalogue is to continue to have relevance to its users, it needs to move beyond its current inventory model, where all content is designed and controlled by library staff, and client interaction with catalogue content is limited, to a social catalogue, where users can contribute to, and interact with information and with each other. The social catalogue can offer several benefits to public library patrons and staff:  Users can establish a social space where they share and discuss common reading, listening, and viewing interests;  Users without easy access to a library branch (e.g., due to illness, limitations of physical mobility, lack of local branch, etc.) can connect to other members of the library and library staff via the catalogue;  Users can provide a grassroots, democratic "readers' advisory" service, whereby they make recommendations for future reading, for example, based upon shared interests;  Users can classify items in the catalogue with their own terms (or tags), which may be more reflective of their language and needs than the formal subject headings that are traditionally assigned by library staff;  Library staff can compile recommended reading/listening/viewing lists based on the discussion and recommendations made by users in the catalogue; and  Library staff can use the discussions and recommendations provided by the users to inform their purchasing decisions for new items to add to the library collection.